Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past & present

The Champions of Yesteryear (Part 20)

ALAN THOMPSON

OF DUNSTABLE

Alan Thompson had put up some great performances in the 28 years he had been in pigeon racing, but none so great as his 1978 Pau National performance, when he recorded 2nd Section E, 3rd Open. Alan put up this outstanding performance with 4,515 birds competing and he lifted the Patrick Trophy with a velocity of 1076 y.p.m. The key pigeon was his three year old blue hen 'Blue Moon' which was of the Went Brothers, 'Steptoe' strain. Her dam was a grand-daughter of 'Steptoe', which was bred by H. Wooding of Enfield and Alan purchased this blue hen at a North London auction sale. 'Blue Moon's' sire was a four year old Went Brothers x Tommy Kilner blue chequer cock. 'Blue Moon' was a nice long distance type, being medium long cast in the hand and Alan said her good point was her very wide flights and strong wings.

Alan started up in the sport at nine years old, with some fancy pigeons obtained from Petticoat Lane and his first loft was 6ft. x 4ft. put together with odd bits of wood. His uncle Arthur and his grandfather taught young Alan how to manage and train the pigeons and his first racing birds were obtained from local fanciers. Alan's first club was the Finsbury Park & D.H.S. and he looked up to one of the members, John Harvey, who won consistently at all distances. In the early days Alan said his biggest mistake was he used to put all his birds in one race, now he holds some back for the following race. Alan started racing at the age of 14 and won the first two races he entered. The first race was an open and the second was a club race, and he recorded 1st club, 3rd Federation. In his second season, Alan, chalked up 3rd club Berwick (300 miles) and 1st club, 43rd Open London N.R. Combine Thurso (500 miles).

The Thompson pigeons raced on the natural system and training started as soon as the youngsters were weaned into the young bird section, with 15 mile tosses every day up to the first race, then they got two 15 mile tosses each week, with the shorter races being used to condition the long distance birds. The birds were not let out of the loft the day before a race and they got a bath on Sunday and Wednesday. The main families kept were Tom Kilner of Horden, Co. Durham, Went Brothers of Enfield and a few from Frank Cheetham of Pontefract. Alan said the Kilner and Went birds were racing well for him at all distances and the few Cheetham pigeons he owned were only been tried up to 250 miles, but were coming well. He was keen on eyesign and maintained you can improve your stock by pairing up by their eyes.

Another of Alan's ace racers was his four year old Kilner blue hen, 'Moody Blue', she was a wonderful handling pigeon, being medium appled bodied. This neat hen was late bred in 1975 and as a yearling, carrying six nest flights and won 4th club, 8th Inter Counties Federation Winchester and 5th club Niort (383 miles). She then went on to win 4th club Nantes (325 miles), 1st club, 1st Inter Counties Federation, 5th M. C. Combine Bergerac (487 miles), flying 144 hours on the day.

The main racing loft was 18ft. x 8ft. with two sections, 12ft. for the 18 pairs of old birds and 6ft. for the 24 youngsters which were bred each year. Three pairs of stock birds were housed in an 8ft. x 6ft. loft and all were cleaned out every day, as deep litter wasn’t used. A loft should be dry and well ventilated, Alan said, and there should be a lot more perches than birds on all four sides of each section. The racing loft had a corridor, with open door trapping and the feed was varied through the year, but was mainly beans, maize and wheat, with red band as a tit bit. Alan's wife was very interested in the sport and she sat and waited for birds on race days and got late birds in when Alan was at work. The whole loft was paired up the third week in February and Alan was only really interested in channel racing. The youngsters flew the programme, but if he liked a youngster he would just train it and leave it at that until the yearling stage. The Thompson loft won the longest young bird race for three years on the trot, recording 1st, 2nd and 3rd club Avranches in 1978, with only three birds in the club in race time. The local fancier that Alan rated very highly is Jack Potter of Leagrave and he said he had been very consistent for many years, which is the name of the game.

'Kilner's Boy' a seven year old dark chequer cock, bred by Tom Kilner was another of the best pigeons at the Thompson loft. He handled under medium and long cast and had a wonderful record on the road, winning 1st club, 1st Federation Pontefract (twice), 2nd club Pontefract (twice), 2nd club, 12th Federation, 20th Combine Northallerton, 2nd club Nottingham, 2nd club, 10th Federation, 36th Combine Nantes, Flown Thurso 479 miles north and Bergerac 489 miles south, a really outstanding pigeon.

Alan, a toolmaker by trade, was the race secretary in his club, the Dunstable S.R.F.C., which was the only club he races in besides the N.F.C. Alan's favorite condition for racing was sitting 12 days when basketed and said he believes in line breeding.

It goes without saying that Alan's biggest thrill was when he clocked 'Blue Moon' from Pau after 16 hours on the wing, flying 587 miles. Alan said on the night of the first day, he heard there were birds timed on the south coast and this meant he had to time in before 6 o'clock next morning. Champion 'Blue Moon' dropped on the loft at 5.45 a.m., a great performance.

Alan Thompson, an outstanding fancier! That’s it for the week’s ‘ON THE ROAD’. My phone number is: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.